IBM Bluemix Cloud Data Services

IBM Analytics for Apache Spark is a cloud-based data service you can use on Bluemix, IBM’s open cloud platform for building, running, and managing applications.

Launch the service

1. Log in to Bluemix (not a Bluemix user yet? Sign up for a free trial.).
2. Click WORK WITH DATA.
   
   You see a screen centered on data services. You can return here regularly to work with your data and analytics services from one easy-to-use page.
   
3. In the left navigation pane, click Analytics.
   
   
4. Click the NEW INSTANCE button.
5. Configure instance and data storage. 
6. Enter a descriptive name for your instance, choose a space, and select your data plan (find plan comparison and pricing details at top of this page).
   Bluemix automatically populates the Object storage name with your instance name. It’s likely you’ll need data storage for your Spark project, so choose a space and plan here too.
   
   
7. Click CREATE INSTANCE. Your instance opens.
   
8. Create a notebook. Notebooks provide an interactive computational environment to perform analytic tasks on data coming from diverse sources, and let you combine code execution, rich text, mathematics, plots and rich media together in one place.
   Click NEW NOTEBOOK.
   
   
   You have a few options here. You can:
   
   • Create a new notebook in either Scala or Python. Enter a name, choose a language, and click CREATE NOTEBOOK.
   • Import an existing notebook. At the top of the page, click either the From File tab or the From URL tab and upload your notebook or enter your URL. Then click CREATE NOTEBOOK.
   • Explore and learn from a sample notebook. At the top of the page, click the Samples tab and choose the sample you want. Then click CREATE NOTEBOOK.
   For exploration, choose the last option and create a notebook from the Precipitation Analysis sample, and watch this video to see how this sample notebook works.
   
9. Read and explore this sample python notebook to understand what’s available and how load data and work with it. 

dashDB Quick Start

New to dashDB and want to learn more? You’re in the right place. Here are some basics steps you can follow to get up and running fast on dashDB.

1. Read the dashDB whitepaper to learn more about dashDB and what it can do for you.
2. Sign up. Now you’re ready to get your hands dirty. If you haven’t done so already, sign up for a free IBM Bluemix trial account. (Bluemix is IBM’s open cloud platform for building, running, and managing applications. More on Bluemix.)
3. Create the dashDB service. In Bluemix, from the menu on any page, choose Catalog. Then, on the left side of the page, turn on the Data and Analytics checkbox (or, at the top of the page, search for dashDB). Click dashDB and when the dashDB page opens, click Create. Watch how to get started in Bluemix.
   
4. Load data. Now with your database service running, get your data into dashDB. You may want to start with the Load from desktop tutorial. Or browse the list on the left side of this page for the tutorial that best fits your data source.
5. Build. Watch the video tutorial on creating tables in dashDB and experiment on your own
6. Analyze. You can use whatever business intelligence tool you choose. Here are some some easy ways to start or to connect to your own apps and tools:
   • IBM Watson Analytics
   • Tableau
   • Embeddable Reporting (a Bluemix service)
   • Connecting apps to dashDB